


keep your head up

by palladium



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Size Difference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-24
Updated: 2014-03-24
Packaged: 2018-01-16 20:20:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1360486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palladium/pseuds/palladium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>kaner thought whatever, because it's not like he's stopped growing, he'll beat tazer's height. but then 4 years pass, and oh. <i>oh</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	keep your head up

**Author's Note:**

> inspired purely by these gifs: [1](https://31.media.tumblr.com/6638494433bb36f95f49dbb9e36acaec/tumblr_mhqujn4bku1qch5rvo3_r1_250.gif), [2](https://31.media.tumblr.com/9ac9ded56f99b22be37ac54cfd99f421/tumblr_mmf3sdIBoK1qfice8o7_r1_250.gif)

Kaner won't admit it out loud, ever, because fuck that; but he might have made a bet when he and Johnny were rookies and the guys had been whiny and pushy enough that Kaner said, "it's on. I'll outgrow Toews and show you guys. I might be tiny now, but I'm still a growing boy." The whole locker room had whistled at the bet back then, but come on, Kaner was determined to win. He might have been, like, what, 5'9 coming in, but he's 21, so fuck that. Patrick Sharp can go fuck himself silly because Kaner will definitely be as tall as Toews in 4-5 years. "You just watch," Kaner said, to Patrick Sharp, and Patrick Sharp had just laughed and messed up Kaner's hair. Attractive asshole.

But.

Okay. So. Fine. Kaner -  _grew_. It's not like he didn't grow at all. He's 5'11 now, so at least that should count for something right? And that's pretty good - what? Two, three inches in 4-5 years? Hey, Kaner thinks, not bad.

But. Okay so what  _if_  Johnny grew more than him in the last couple of years? It's not  _Kaner's_  fault that he's a fucking Canadian giant and a douchebag like Sharpy. And Sharpy just laughs at him too, exactly 4 years later when they had made the bet, during practice. Johnny's shrugging his shit off, his hair slick and wet with sweat and ugh, gross, Kaner thinks, but he still stares at him for a second too long.

Sharpy puts a hand on his shoulder, and Kaner turns and grimaces at him. "Peeks," Sharpy starts, and Kaner just gives him a grosser look and shoves him.

"I'm trying to take off my shit, man," he says, but Sharpy tsks him. All the guys in the locker room who were there when they had made the bet before are quiet too, now, but the guys who are new (Shawzy is going to die laughing, oh fuck) are just staring at them two kind of confused, looking around searching for an answer.

"None of that now, eh, Peeks? It's finally that time." And god, Sharpy is a dick. Kaner can't believe he called him Patrick Sharp before, full name and all, with too much respect and too bright eyes. Now Kaner wants to jab him in the stomach - not that he'll feel it at all because of his unfair abs, though, what a dick. At least he's still hot, Kaner can't deny that shit.

"What time is it?" Shawzy asks out loud. Kaner throws a glare at him. Shawzy frowns.

Sharpy sighs and says, "well, Seabs?"

Seabs comes out of nowhere and hands Sharpy measuring tape. They both eye Kaner like this is a threat. Kaner scoffs at them. Sharpy holds the measuring tape out. "Alright, Kaner, we're either going to do this one way or the next. One, we embarrass you like hell by measuring your height, without skates and socks, and then we'll take Tazer's height and let the whole team have a laugh for weeks.  _Or_ ," Sharpy grins evilly, "we just shove you and Tazer side by side while the team and I take pictures and laugh at them with Abby and then make you - and whoever else wants to - set it as their phone wallpaper for a month. So? Which one?"

Kaner's starting to wonder where Johnny's in all this, where's Johnny even in the locker room, until he realizes that the asshole is taking  _a shower_. And leaving Kaner to face his death. Ugh.

Once the guys in the room catch up, Kaner's pretty much boom and roasted. Because now Shawzy's frown is turning upside down and although Kaner really, really, really likes the kid, he also really wishes his frown was still not upside down.

Seabs puts his hand on Kaner's shoulder like it's supposed to reassure him, and Kaner glares at him. Seabs smiles.

"Okay," Kaner finally says, "okay. Sure, whatever. But we should wait for Tazer. Because he was a part of the bet. And he should have a say."

Sharpy rolls his eyes. "Toes is on my side, Peeks, he'll do whatever I think is the most embarrassing for you."

"Or," Kaner suggests, pushing them both away. "We could call this off. You know, truce it. I was a rookie, I shouldn't be responsible for my past actions."

Sharpy threatens him by stretching the tape and Kaner flinches at the sound, but he glares at him. "Peeks, you are so, so wrong."

 

Fine.  _Maybe_  Johnny looks like he could be half a head taller than Kaner. But so what? That's not the real reason why they're both awesome at hockey. Kaner thinks height shouldn't matter anyway. Marty St. Louis is shorter than him and he's a rockstar on ice. So's Kaner. Just because he's shorter than Johnny and because he has to look up all the time at him kind of hurts his neck, and sometimes he has to go on his tip toes when Johnny is being a dick, or when Johnny won't bend down to kiss him because he's "too tired" - it's not entirely a bad thing.

So when Sharpy coerces him into making the picture of him and Johnny side by side his new wallpaper, Kaner doesn't think it's that much of an embarrassment.

Until it is. Because people gawk at Kaner's phone and say, "oh.  _Oh._ " all the motherfucking time like they haven't ever seen a short person. Not that Kaner's that short anyway. And the guys will crowd him to the boards during practice, with wide grins, saying, "hey Peeks, didn't see you there!" Like fuck you, you didn't.

And it's not like it should  _just_  become obvious now that Kaner's pretty normal height. It's like the world world  _just_  realized that, whoa, that Patrick Kane dude from Chicago Blackhawks is really, really fucking tiny. Fuck them, Kaner says, he's cute as fuck.

And it's also not like Johnny hadn't crowded him into random corners and walls and doors  _before_  the bet was over; Johnny did that  _all the fucking time_ , because he's a giant asshole.

Abby is still giggling at him the next time they go to Sharpy's place for a BBQ get-together, and Kaner holds his tongue and swears he shouldn't have come. Even Shawzy is making it a big deal, and Kaner feels the slightest bit betrayed. But Shawzy says, "aw, no worries, little man. Shorter people get their own advantages too. And it's not that bad of a thing, right?" Kaner wants to point out that they're both probably exactly the same height, but he holds it in and says, "thanks buddy." Because, duh, Kaner needs to be  _nice_  to his rookies.

 

It doesn't settle in completely until Johnny says one night during a day of Xbox and Wii at his condo, "you know, you are pretty small." And, uh, what.

Kaner says "fuck you" because it's automatic, but when he turns, Johnny's staring at him with a weird look: his eyes are dimmed and his smile is small, crooked. "What?"

"You're pretty small, I said," Johnny repeats, because he's an actual dick. Kaner grimaces at him, turning back to the TV, but he can feel Johnny staring at him like a total creep.

"Okay, yeah, so? What's your point? Did you really just realize that?"

Johnny frowns from where he's still looking at Kaner. Kaner rolls his eyes. "Trust me, I realized long ago you stopped growing."

"Hey," Kaner says, offended.

"What I just realized is that we haven't really taken full advantage of - " Johnny pauses and gestures something in the air, " - it."

Kaner stares at him for a moment before something kicks in and he's stuck between smirking and grimacing. "You -  _get off_  on it," he says, like he's testing it, and Johnny just raises his brows as if it were already obvious, which. Dick. "Dick. You - you're a turd."

What Kaner doesn't understand is that he didn't realize what it meant to "take advantage" of their height difference (which, is only like a two centimetre difference, okay, fuck you) in the way Johnny tried to say it. Because when they actually do it -

"Asshole," Kaner breathes out, when Johnny has him pinned against the kitchen island while Kaner had been trying to get chips, his hands big over Kaner's hips and his head resting by Kaner's temple. "If  _this_  is what you meant by earlier, this isn't much different than before - "

"Obviously," Johnny says, low in Kaner's ears.

Which is exactly how Kaner ends up being fucked on the counter; and even then their heights don't match up, which Johnny laughs breathlessly at into Kaner's neck.

"Okay," Kaner says, when he's had like, three orgasms and his ass and dick feel like they're swollen, "I could get used to this."

 

Except he gets totally spoiled afterwards because Johnny gets off on holding Kaner up against something when they have sex. And Kaner lets him, because it's hot and Johnny's hot when his biceps stretch his t-shirts when they carry Kaner.

"Jesus, man, your  _arms._ " Kaner grips them so hard they'll probably bruise later. Whatever, Johnny can deal. Kaner's been having bruises all over his inner thighs and they hurt like absolute hell when Johnny re-presses into them. "Your arms are unreal, what the fuck."

And then Johnny will grit out "shut up" because he's holding Kaner up against the wall  _and_ slicking their dicks together in a very, very, very good way.

In the locker room is a different story, though, because when Crow accidentally notices the bruises scattered on Kaner's thighs, he tells Sharpy and it just becomes a terrible thing.

They'll croon after Kaner or Johnny showers, and it's like, the most horrible thing because it's led by Sharpy and Sharpy is a total dickface. He'll wave his "toes and peeks' wedding portrait" wallpaper on his phone like a fucking five year old kid, and shout "the kids are doing kinky things in the bedroom!"

Shawzy seemed pretty invested into the humiliating bet for Kaner like a week ago, but now he's crinkling his nose and wearing earplugs. Ha, Kaner thinks, he might be short but you damn right be grossed out about his (awesome) sex life with Tazer.

Turns out "taking advantage" of Kaner's height becomes like, a thing they do every other night or week. Johnny is usually strung up after a particularly bad game or loss, and that's when he'll totally ignore Kaner for the rest of the night to do some like, captain-brooding-session shit. But  _now_ , Johnny will slam Kaner up against something once he knows they're finally alone, and he'll bruise Kaner's wrists with one hand while his lips press into Kaner's like he'll stop breathing if he doesn't. And Kaner - he'll kiss back, try to calm Johnny down by making his movements softer, gentler, but Johnny will just growl like some savage and fuck with Kaner's neck instead until Kaner's chest is heaving and his legs are shaking.

Then, Johnny would push Kaner down onto the bed and kiss him for a long time; he'll cover Kaner entirely with his body and press his lips into every inch of Kaner's skin until Kaner's gasping, "fuck me, you asshole," and Johnny will pull Kaner's jeans off. But then, he'll open Kaner up slowly with his cold fingers slick with lube; so slow and gradual, pushing one finger in and making sure Kaner takes it up to the knuckle, and then he'll add a second and do the same.

Kaner's basically having blue balls by the time Johnny actually decides to lube his dick up and ram it into Kaner - which, is a very non-sexy way to put it, but goddamn it, Kaner  _needs_  to get fucked. When Johnny's dick is fully inside him, stretching him with a slow burn, he'll finally wrap his fingers around Kaner's dick and that's it, Kaner comes just by Johnny's hand wrapped loosely around his fucking dick.

"Forgot the condom," Johnny will breathe, low, the first few times before he came inside Kaner, and at first Kaner thinks he really did forget like the asshole he is, until he happens again and  _again_  - 

"Dick," Kaner gasps, when he feels Johnny come inside him the fifth time, liquid heat filling Kaner up until he can feel it in his fucking bones. "You didn't forget."

Johnny breathes, "yeah," and Kaner will let him.

 

Kaner is totally, 100%, an independent, grown up man.

It is not his fucking fault if his housekeeper fucking shoves his dry food too fucking high in the cabinets that he needs to call Johnny to help him get them down.

Johnny actually laughs like a total asshole before he gets the shit down, without even having to shift his feet, and fuck him.

"Shut up, you giant Canadian freakazoid." Kaner pretends to twist out of Johnny's hold when he's got him crowded into the counter while Kaner's trying to open his canned peaches. And no, fuck you, it's not weird to have canned peaches stored in your house at all times.

"You know," Johnny says, humming, "fresh ones are better and healthier."

"Ugh, please. I don't need your stupid health lessons. I have a trainer and a dietitian to tell me that shit."

"Yet you still eat shit like that, eh," Johnny notes, disappointed, and Kaner really tries to twist out of his hold now. Johnny's not budging, though, and he's got a height, size, and weight advantage on him that makes this totally, 100% unfuckingfair.

Eventually, Kaner's peaches end up on the floor having being knocked over when Johnny hauls him up and onto the counter. Kaner has Johnny in-between his legs now, though, and they're the perfect height for kissing and it's pretty great if you disregard the Kaner-sitting-on-top-of-his-own-counter part.

"Pass me another can, weedmuncher," Kaner says in-between breaths, and Johnny (" _weedmuncher_ , really? We're going to have to work your fucking vocabulary, Kaner.") just mouths at his neck and grabs what he wants without looking. Kaner places it aside. At least now he has peaches to eat later without having to embarrassingly tell Johnny to get it for him again. He's really got to tell his housekeeper - but then again, he has Johnny.

 

Blowjobs are another thing that really changed once Johnny notices  _size_  difference after height. It happens one night after a good win against the Canucks, and they're both buzzing even when they finally get back into their hotel room, and then Johnny's pushing Kaner onto his knees without a warning, which, okay.

But then Johnny's got him on his knees with his back against the wall while Johnny hovers above him, bracing his arms on the wall, caving him in. Kaner looks up for a moment and he's just - he feels tiny, with Johnny covering him whole and he's just curled up at his knees.

"Kaner," Johnny's breathless, his voice wrecked as Kaner's mouth is right above his dick, goddamn it, and he looks - " _Kaner_ _."_

"Yeah, I've got you," Kaner says, soft, and he licks a stripe up Johnny's dick before he fully gets his mouth around him.

Johnny doesn't last long when Kaner's got his dick down to his throat, and when he comes, the last thing he sees is Kaner's half-lidded eyes and his mouth, red and obscene, wrapped around his cock.

 

Sharpy comes up to Kaner the next day in the locker room before practice and places a hand on his shoulder. "Okay," he says, like that's supposed to mean something, which, what.

"Uh."

"We'll let you off the hook, now." Sharpy pulls out his phone and turns it on. It's a picture of Abby and Maddy with Sharpy's jersey on. It's pretty cute, Kaner thinks, and then he looks back at Sharpy because what. "I'm tired of you and Tazer's faces, and if I see you two doing anything gross inside the locker room or anywhere near me involving your height differences, you two never get the honour of seeing my daughter again. You got it?"

"Sure, truce," Kaner says easily, but when it fully sinks in he turns back to Sharpy. He grins so hard it hurts. Ha, Kaner thinks, Sharpy only lasted like, two weeks. Sucker.

"Oh no," Sharpy starts.

"Oh yes, douchefuck." And then Kaner's calling Johnny over and the whole locker room groans.


End file.
